A motion
by senators had wanted the Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini to investigate what
local media called, ‘the alarming rate of criminal offences allegedly committed
by members of the Royal Swaziland Police service’.

The Times of Swaziland reported (30 June
2017) that the PM was to be asked to see if the presently available
disciplinary sanctions against police officers were effective enough to ensure
the force had the public’s confidence.

The Times reported, ‘almost all the senators
spoke in one voice that it was not the right time to call for such an
investigation’. Swaziland had recently been given a seat in the governing body
of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and senators felt it would look bad to be investigating police at
such a time.

Swaziland
ratified the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) in 2004 and its initial report on progress was due by 2005, but
13 years later it has failed to report.

After such a long delay, the Human
Rights Committee (HRC) has scheduled a review of the kingdom in the absence of
report.

In
a wide-ranging document the HRC poses a number of questions to the Swazi
Government which was not elected by the people but hand-picked by King Mswati
III who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

On
the use of police torture HRC asks the government, ‘Please state whether torture
is specifically criminalized in the State party, with appropriatepenalties, and provide information on whether
an independent body exists to investigate complaints and prevent abuse and
ill-treatment by law enforcement officials.’

The
inquiry also asks for information on the permissible grounds for deprivation of
liberty and there is a way to address instances of unlawful arrest or
detention.

HRC
says, ‘Please also provide information on the rights of persons in police
custody, including their right to have access to a lawyer, the stage at which a
suspect is allowed access to a lawyer and the maximum period of detention
before an individual is brought before a judge.’

It
asks for data on the number of law enforcement officials that have been: (a)
investigated; (b) prosecuted; (c) convicted or acquitted; and (d) punished, and
the nature of the sanctions imposed.

In
June 2016, a United Nations review panel looking into human rights in Swaziland
was told in a joint report by four organisations, ‘In Mbabane [the Swazi
capital], police tortured a 15-year-old boy after his mother had reported him
for stealing E85.00 (US$6). The boy alleges that he was beaten with a slasher
(metal blade tool for cutting grass) and knobkerrie (club) for five hours. While
enduring the pain, he alleges that he was made to count the strokes aloud for
the police to hear. Instead of being charged, the boy was physically assaulted
and made to sit in a chair for thirty minutes before he was sent back home.’

The
report
was submitted to the United Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland by the Swaziland
Multi-Media Community Network, Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland
Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations and Constituent Assembly –
Swaziland.